staffrodore
New Member
Well now..
Does anyone know if this is true or not?
Answers after these short messages...
Does anyone know if this is true or not?
Answers after these short messages...
Useless Facts From Email #1: A Duck's Quack Dosn't Echo
- Thread starter staffrodore
- Start date
Mare
New Member
It's daffy to believe the quack of a duck doesn't echo
By Steve Connor
[email protected]
08 September 2003
EXPERTS in acoustics have debunked one of the more esoteric myths of the modern age - that a duck's quack is the only sound that does not produce an echo.
The myth has been promulgated as fact by a number of television and radio shows, from Shooting Stars on BBC2 to Steve Wright on Radio 2 and John Peel's Home Truths on Radio 4.
Now scientists have definitively shown that the quack of a duck does obey the laws of physics and can, just like any other sound, produce an echo when it bounces off a solid surface.
With the help of Daisy the duck and an anechoic chamber - a room with jagged-edged walls where sound cannot be reflected - Professor Trevor Cox of Salford University precisely recorded the exact sounds that constitute a quack.
He then recorded Daisy's quack in a reverberation chamber with cathedral-like acoustics. This generated long reflections, causing Daisy's quack to take on a sinister echoey sound, Professor Cox said.
"It proved that a duck's quack does, indeed, produce an echo."
The recordings were used to create simulations of Daisy performing at the Royal Albert Hall, and quacking as she flew past a cliff face. The conclusion was that a duck's quack definitely echoes, just like any other sound.
However, people could be forgiven for thinking that a quack does not echo because of the way that a duck's call tails off at the end, making any echo difficult to discern.
"The biggest mystery is why this myth should have arisen at all. One theory is that the envelope of the duck's quack has a gradual decay, which makes echoes difficult to hear," he said.
"A duck quacks rather quietly, so the sound coming back is at a low level and might not be heard," said Professor Cox.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=441486
By Steve Connor
[email protected]
08 September 2003
EXPERTS in acoustics have debunked one of the more esoteric myths of the modern age - that a duck's quack is the only sound that does not produce an echo.
The myth has been promulgated as fact by a number of television and radio shows, from Shooting Stars on BBC2 to Steve Wright on Radio 2 and John Peel's Home Truths on Radio 4.
Now scientists have definitively shown that the quack of a duck does obey the laws of physics and can, just like any other sound, produce an echo when it bounces off a solid surface.
With the help of Daisy the duck and an anechoic chamber - a room with jagged-edged walls where sound cannot be reflected - Professor Trevor Cox of Salford University precisely recorded the exact sounds that constitute a quack.
He then recorded Daisy's quack in a reverberation chamber with cathedral-like acoustics. This generated long reflections, causing Daisy's quack to take on a sinister echoey sound, Professor Cox said.
"It proved that a duck's quack does, indeed, produce an echo."
The recordings were used to create simulations of Daisy performing at the Royal Albert Hall, and quacking as she flew past a cliff face. The conclusion was that a duck's quack definitely echoes, just like any other sound.
However, people could be forgiven for thinking that a quack does not echo because of the way that a duck's call tails off at the end, making any echo difficult to discern.
"The biggest mystery is why this myth should have arisen at all. One theory is that the envelope of the duck's quack has a gradual decay, which makes echoes difficult to hear," he said.
"A duck quacks rather quietly, so the sound coming back is at a low level and might not be heard," said Professor Cox.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=441486
BeardofPants
New Member
Already knew this. 
It's fun to disabuse people of their old wives tales...
Quack ... quack... quack... quack... woof?
It's fun to disabuse people of their old wives tales... Quack ... quack... quack... quack... woof?